Chiller advice needed

[Nervoustime]

Hi guys,

I recently purchased a 90 gallon (reef ready) Oceanic Tech tank. As far as the lighting is concerned, I went with the Coralife Aqualight Pro Lighting (48" fixture)
2 x 250W HQI MH + 2 x 96W PC

Although the temperature in the tank has not been an issue yet, I want to be prepared as the weather in Southern California warms up in the upcoming months. With that in mind, what steps can I take to insure proper tank temperature? If I need to purchase a chiller, what brand would you recommend for this size tank? I am looking for something with the lowest noise possible and has a good history of being reliable. I would appreciate any help.

Take care,

Reza
Irvine, Ca.

[prow]

fans, ac house are something you can do.
for the chiller the arctica 1/4hp would be the best bang for your buck. pacifica chillers are good too but a big jump in price. personally i dont like any of the drop in type chillers.

[Frankie]

I had a drop in chiller and it cost a lot, made a lot of noise and condensation came off it so much i had to plumb it in from the outside of the house.
My new chiller is a Current 1/3 hp tower and i love it. Its quiet and reliable. It cost me $620 with shipping. Much less then the drop in.

[JFK_Jr]

Originally Posted by Nervoustime

Although the temperature in the tank has not been an issue yet, I want to be prepared as the weather in Southern California warms up in the upcoming months. With that in mind, what steps can I take to insure proper tank temperature?

Living in South Florida... I thought for sure I would have to get a chiller, but I haven't needed it like I originally thought.

Some tips...

1. Fans in your canopy and over your uncovered sump.
2. Good water surface agitation
3. If you have an enclosed stand vent it with fans and leave the doors open when possible(like when you go to work)
4. If going with MH... get electronic ballasts.
5. Run a reverse light schedule. You will be able to cool your tank while you are at home with your AC and not waste money keeping your place cooled when no one is home. My AC is set to 75 when I'm home, and 80 when I'm at work. It also lets me enjoy the tank lit when I'm home to enjoy it.
6. Keep the ambient temperature down in your home. I had the windows of my condo tinted to reduce heat. I also keep the shades closed and my condo dark when I go to work.

Finally... one last thought. Don't think that the perfect temperature needs to be 78 degrees. My reef is prospering at 82 to 85... Check out my tank thread and you will see... I do not lie

This is an interesting article that may shed some light on the subject.

Quote:
Originally Posted by JFK_Jr

Reef Tank Temperatures
How High is Too High?
Most aquarists with reef tanks understand that maintaining their corals within the proper temperature range is important in order to keep them healthy and growing. If the temperature is too low or too high, the zooxanthellae algae, which most corals require for survival, will die or vacate the polyps. When the algae leaves the coral, it exposes the white base calcium carbonate of the coral, it is sometimes called Coral Bleaching. You may recall the news stories about coral bleaching in some of the world's coral reefs, which reportedly began in the early '90's.

So, what is the proper temperature to keep your reef tank at? Many LFS keep their tanks at 75-78°F and recommend to their customers that they do also. A number of OLS coral shippers recommend keeping your tank temperature at 82°F.

With so many recommended temperatures, what is the best temperature for your reef tank? Perhaps the best way to make a decision is to look at what the temperatures were when your corals were in the wild. If you look at Coral Reef Regions in the World, you will see where corals grow in the wild. If you compare this to the indicated temperatures in Sea Surface Temperatures section of the Hurricane Tracker and the map in NOAA's Sea Surface Temperatures, you will see that a vast majority of coral reefs are found where water temperatures are between 80°F and 89°F.

Perhaps a more pertinent reef tank temperature question, particularly during the summer months, is "how high is too high"? When do you really need to crank up that electron sucking chiller you paid a half a month's wages for?

The first place to start is to determine where your corals originally came from. The Indo Pacific, Caribbean and Red Sea are where most of the corals in the aquarium trade are collected. Perhaps the easiest way to find out is to ask the LFS or OLS where you purchased your corals where the corals were shipped from.

Since most aquarium corals are collected from the Indo Pacific and the Caribbean where the water temperatures are routinely between 85 and 89 degrees Fahrenheit, perhaps you may not need to get too concerned as long as your tank temps do not rise above this level.

From Stan & Debbie Hauter

[Frankie]

Where i have to agree that a lot of reefs are in the upper to mid 80's there is a lot more then that just going on. Reefs in the wild are fluctuating in temp. constantly with cold water pushing up from deeper in the ocean and just below reef walls. Upper and more inland reefs get warmer from the sun and so on. Good info from Stan & Debbie Hauter JFK, i read there stuff all the time. I have to say that you do have great success with your tank at that temp. range. Most people that keep sps in that temp. range don't fare so well. Also warmer tank temps tend to breed diseases and algae easier. I tried to keep a chiller off my tank and just got sick of the temperature swings and corals dieing. Now that i have a chiller i see my corals finally surviving and growing. There are other reasons like oxygen levels and Ph ect... to keep in mind when setting on a particular temp. range.

[Witfull]

my tanks swings between 78* and 81*

[JFK_Jr]

The important factor is to keep temperatures stable... fluctuations are to be avoided as much as possible. I actually have my heater set to 82 to keep my tank within it's range.

The other thing that helps me keep my corals happy is water flow... I can't stress enough the importance of good water flow in a reef tank.

[Nervoustime]

Thank you all for the great information. JFK, I have been performing some of the things that you had listed (such as keeping the cabinet doors open as much as possible and having a good water movement in the tank). The temperature in the tank is between 78-81 degrees during the entire day. The light fixture (fan cooled) sits on top of the tank (approximately 5" above the water line). The top of the tank is open, and there is no canopy. If I place a fan in the cabinet area near the sump, how much if any will it help to control the water temperature? I am not sure how much warmer the tank will get as the weather warms up, but I just wanted to learn as much as I could ahead of time. Thanks again guys for the help.

[JFK_Jr]

Originally Posted by Nervoustime

If I place a fan in the cabinet area near the sump, how much if any will it help to control the water temperature?

The fan over my sump lowers my water temperature to the point my heater has to kick in. Evaporative cooling absolutely helps to keep your temperatures down. An added benefit of evaporative cooling is that it allows you to dose your tank with Kalkwasser RO/DI top off water. It's good that you have an open top... this also helps to keep your temps down. If you are not already doing it, make sure that you are adequately agitating the surface of your water with a pump return or powerhead... this will also help keep those temps down.

[Nervoustime]

Thanks a lot JFK.

[lcstorc]

I just added a Pacific Coast chiller to my system. It is too soon for me to say anything about reliability, but it works great and is very quiet.

[prow]

i would be careful keeping temps in the mid 80's. some creatures like it most dont though. the higher temp will increase metobolic rates which inturn increases O2 demand. in the wild this is not as much of an issue as it is in our closed systems. in the ocean O2 saturated water circulates and keeps the O2 levels right. our tanks are very limited in there ability to keep the water saturated with O2, at the lower temp ranges our tanks struggle with this, let alone at higher temps. why good circulation is so important. even if your creatures/fish can adapt to the higher temps and your O2 levels stay good, at best, the higher temps will still decrease their life span in the long run.

keeping the temps stable, not flucuating too much, is also important. about 2-3 degrees change is what i shot for, 79-82 is where i like mine. depending on where you live in cali you just might need a chiller. i live in so. cal. and need my chiller. the temp high yesterday was 83, 3 days ago it was 65. summer it gets worse. one day its 100- 2 days later its in low 70's. you will have to play with everything alot if no chiller. in florida using fans and such is a good option. here in redondo redondo beach not the best option. in florida it is very humid, cali is not its more of a dry climate. so using fans and such here in so cal you will be going through mass top off water, from all the evaporation. salt creap becomes a issue aswell as moisturizing the walls and furniture and all that. plus you will have to play with everything, adjusting this and that daily. even then you may find your temp elevating and fluctuating more than you want. **it does get tiring adjusting daily. i need my chiller here in so cal (aswell as my heater) and i went with T5's for lighting to avoid buying a chiller but in the end after going through reverse lighting, bought a ac unit, adding fans all over, buying the most efficient pumps/powerheads i still needed a chiller.


one other thing to think about is if you have a glass tank or acrylic. i have an acrylic. acrylics are better at keeping temps stable, because it is a much better insulator than glass, but once the temp is up, its much harder to get it down. on the flip with glass tanks the heat and temps will flucuate more depending on what the exterior enviornment is doing, but once the temp goes up, its much easier to get the temp back down. a steady or unsteady exterior temp is more of a determant with glass than acrylic as temp changes will occur faster in a glass tank. (ac/fans in the house works better with glass tanks, dosent effect acrylic tanks as much unless its left on all the time) dont think i said this well i hope you get it. eeeeee reefon'

[Nervoustime]

Prow,
I understand exactly what you are saying. I don't want to be messing with things on a daily basis. As you mentioned, there are temperature fluctuations in Southern California. I don't want big temperature swings in my tank. I appreciate your input.

Reza

[prow]

what all that means, here in so. cal.
if glass tank try fans and ac the house before buying a chiller.
if acrylic tank, save yourself some headaches and just get the chiller.

[prow]

ahh post at same time. yeah i see you live kinda close to me. i went through all that before buying my chiller. during the heat waves which is only a few weeks out of the year i had to use bottles of water i would freeze. what a pain that was. my friend who lives in torrance has not had a chiller for a couple years now but the lights are never on during the day and he is always adjusting things. leaving the windows open, closing the windows, using extra fans, turning the ac on putting ice bottles in at times in the summer. like you would think his timing is not alway so great so every now and then i hear about thing going array. he is planning on getting a chiller with the next couple of months. vacations in the summer is something you really need to think about too, or you might come back and find gumbo soup.